His comment was the first indication of the Oman fund's
response to the crisis at Corpbank, which was hit by a run last
week after depositors became unnerved by reports of shady deals
involving the lender and its main shareholder.

The sovereign wealth fund is Corpbank's second-biggest
shareholder, with a stake of about 30 percent.

Already reeling from a drubbing at the European Parliament
elections in May, Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's
government has announced plans to nationalise Corpbank if its
existing shareholders do not rescue it.

The crisis has put renewed attention on the investment
climate of the European Union's poorest member state, which has
been plagued by political instability and endemic corruption,
and suffered a sovereign credit rating downgrade in June.

The fall-out from the bank run continues to be felt in
international markets, with Bulgaria's credit default swaps
(CDS) at a 15-month high, according to Markit data.

Nationalising Corpbank looked the most likely outcome after
Oresharski said on Tuesday that shareholders were unlikely to
rescue the country's fourth-largest lender.

It was not known whether he was speaking before or after the
meeting with the sovereign wealth fund.

"Talks took place yesterday, but I do not know the outcome,"
Oman's honorary consul Stoyan Denchev told Reuters on Wednesday.

Another shareholder, Russian bank VTB, said on
Tuesday it had no plans to inject capital into
Corpbank.

Bulgarian businessman Tsvetan Vassilev owns just over half
of the company, while the investment arm of VTB is the
third-biggest shareholder with a 9.1 percent stake.

Both Corpbank and Vassilev have denied any wrongdoing. It is
not known whether Vassilev himself could provide additional
funds for the lender.

TRADING FREEZE

The Oman fund, which has not publicly commented on its
intentions regarding Corpbank, had earlier sent a letter to
Bulgarian authorities about holding talks to protect its
interest in the lender, the consul said.

The fund did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The central bank declined to comment on the consul's remarks on
Wednesday.

Corpbank's problems prompted ratings agency Moody's to
downgrade it by two notches on Tuesday. Bulgaria's stock
exchange on Wednesday announced it would extend a freeze on
share trading in Corpbank until the central bank relinquished
control over its operations.

The central bank, which said it would handle Corpbank's
operations for three months after the run last week, has begun
delving into the lender's accounts to find out what went wrong
and has appointed independent auditors to determine how much
money Corpbank will need.

It has said Corpbank is not bankrupt, that its problems are
an isolated case and that they pose no risk to Bulgaria's
banking system.

The crisis hit Bulgaria just as the government was gearing
up for a European investor road show to raise 1.5 billion euros
from bond sales. The money is needed to roll over bonds maturing
in January and finance the budget deficit.

Early talks with investors in Germany - the first leg of the
road show - suggested Corpbank's problems and the recent
downgrade by Standard & Poor's to one notch above junk would not
derail the sale.
(Writing by Matthias Williams; additional reporting by Carolyn
Cohn in LONDON; Editing by Erica Billingham and Pravin Char)